Ryanair said bookings in the fourth quarter were "significantly" ahead of last year, but prices were still weaker.

In November, the company warned full-year profits to the end of this financial year were likely to be down on last year - a first annual profits fall in five years.

New attitude

Ryanair said it had now finished implementing a series of initiatives aimed at improving passenger experience, including a free small second carry-on bag, a 24-hour grace period to correct minor booking errors and reduced boarding card and airport and bag fees.

It said it also now had allocated seating on all flights, charging passengers five euros to select their preferred seat. It said uptake of this had "grown significantly".

"It now appears that sales of reserved/allocated seats will exceed the revenue loss from cutting airport and bag fees," it said.

In September, Ryanair pledged to reform its "abrupt culture", following shareholder concerns that customer service issues were hitting sales.

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